Drew Ellis recently found himself at a bit of a crossroads in his life.

He was 27 years old, but was also an unemployed baseball player, which is not a great combination.

After being drafted by and reaching the majors with Arizona, he was placed on waivers last June and claimed by Seattle. This March though, the Mariners saw him as expendable and cut him loose.

Without any immediate offers to play affiliated ball, Ellis was thinking about playing independent baseball, but before he decided, the Phillies offered him a minor league contract and he headed off to Clearwater, Florida.

Even though he had been working out and staying ready, the Phillies started him in extended spring training, and then sent him to Double-A Reading to start the season.

He played 10 games with the Fightins before being promoted to the IronPigs.

“It was definitely humbling,” said Ellis. “To not have a job made me self-reflect a bit, get back to the drawing board and start working harder to get to a spot where I know I can get to.”

Since joining the team on its recent road trip, Ellis has been a man on a mission to get to that spot that he spoke about reaching. In his first nine games with Lehigh Valley, Ellis was batting .314 with five home runs and 11 RBIs.

In his 10 games with Reading, Ellis was also productive with three homers and drove in eight runs. Combining the two stops, 12 of Ellis’ 20 hits this season have been for extra bases.

Even before he became a member of the IronPigs, Ellis had a connection to former IronPigs player Tyler Gilbert. Two weeks into his major league career with the Diamondbacks, Ellis hit his first major league home run. It came in the same game that also saw Gilbert throw a no-hitter for Arizona.

One problem for Ellis is that throughout his career, he has shown versatility, but primarily as an infielder. He has played 500 games at third base, and another 92 at first base.

All together, he has 628 games as an infielder and just 37 in left field, the only position he has played outside of the infield, unless you count his three appearances as a pitcher in the minors.

The Phillies are set on the infield, and Ellis is a carbon copy of Kody Clemens, whose bat has come alive in Philadelphia. That means that Ellis could be with Lehigh Valley for the long term, especially since he isn’t on the 40-man roster.

A TASTE OF PHILLY ... The IronPigs pitching staff resembles the Phillies in that they have six pitchers who have recently been members of the Phillies - pitchers Andrew Bellatti, Bailey Falter, McKinley Moore, Luis Ortiz, Cristopher Sanchez, and Erich Uelmen. The only position player who is on the IronPigs roster after being in Philly this season is outfielder Jake Cave.

TWO IN A ROW ... After Ellis was named the International League Player of the Week, Cave took the honor for his play last week during Lehigh Valley’s homestand. The outfielder had hit in every game he had played with Lehigh Valley since being optioned by the Phillies in early May, but he went hitless on Tuesday to end his 21-game hitting streak. Last week, the 30-year-old hit .474 with a .630 on-base percentage, and 1.211 slugging percentage with five doubles, three home runs, seven RBIs and 11 runs scored. His performance had him first in the league in runs scored, slugging percentage, and OPS. Cave’s hitting streak tied him for the fourth longest in franchise history with Domonic Brown. Dean Anna had a 22-gamer, Scott Kingery is second with 23 games and the all-time leader in Pigs history is Nick Williams, who hit in 24 straight. Williams hit in five straight games to end the 2017 season, and hit in his first 19 games with Lehigh Valley in 2018.

WALK THIS WAY ... IronPigs pitchers continue to struggle to throw strikes. In their six-game series against Buffalo, Lehigh Valley pitches allowed 47 walks. Of those, 14 were issued to Bisons leadoff hitter Rafael Lantigua, who also had seven hits in the six-game series for an on-base percentage of .625 for the week.

STANDINGS AND SCHEDULES ... By taking the series against Buffalo 4-2, Lehigh Valley was back at the .500 mark with a 25-25 record, which leaves them trailing first place Norfolk by a full 10 games. Durham (Rays) is second, 7 ½ games behind the Norfolk Tides (Orioles). After their 12-game homestand wraps up with six this week against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (Yankees), Lehigh Valley heads to Syracuse (Mets) for six.